About This Book

Iron Curtain Graphics presents a selection of handmade graphic design, illustration, and typography from the Communist era that is startlingly innovative and colorful—and a unique inspiration for current cutting-edge work that takes its visual cues from past design ideas, concepts, and techniques rather than the latest computer-driven technology.

The chapters Propaganda, Safety at Work, Culture & Entertainment, and Education & Science feature posters and signs as well as book and magazine covers that have not lost any of their visual impact today. The examples are a testament to how creative and experimental designers could be despite (or exactly because of) being bound by strict rules established by the state.

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More About This Book

A common assumption is that everything was gray behind the Iron Curtain. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Socialist graphic design from the 1950s to the 1970s is startlingly innovative and colorful—and a unique inspiration for current work that is being influenced by classical modernist style trends.

Iron Curtain Graphics presents a selection of graphic design, illustration, and typography from the former Eastern Bloc. There, designers were bound by strict rules established by the state regarding the overall visual language they could use. Despite (or exactly because of) this fact, the work collected in this book is a testament to the creative and experimental nature of the applied art they created under these circumstances.

The chapters Propaganda, Safety at Work, Culture & Entertainment, and Education & Science feature posters and signs as well as book and magazine covers that have not lost any of their visual power or impact today—despite the demise of the regimes for which they were created.

Iron Curtain Graphics is edited by Stefania Carla Duschka and Ciprian Isac of Atelierul de Grafica from Romania.